The 1943 film "Mr. Lucky" is about a cynical gambling boat owner and confidence man who romances a society girl in order to run a crooked gambling operation at her charity event. Under her influence and from events he slowly becomes a patriot. The film is set in New York City just before the United States entered World War II and stars Cary Grant as Joe, the gambler, and Laraine Day as Dorothy, the society girl. Joe makes use of a two-tailed coin to con various people and another person uses a two-headed coin for the same purpose. The prop coins used in the film are based on old German silver dollar-sized coins.

Joe Adams runs a gambling boat called the Fortuna. At that time it was legal to operate casino gambling on a boat if the boat was a certain distance from shore. Joe brings some items to a meeting with his partners and employees.

Joe and his partner Zepp receive military draft notices and don't want to go into the army. Another associate is a criminal named Joe Bascopolous or "Joe the Greek" who is about to die. Joe and Zepp decide to shoot dice and the winner will start using Bascopolous's name and will own the boat.

Joe wins the identity and the boat and Zepp heads for the draft office. He is found medically unfit for the army and returns to the boat as a resentful employee. Joe has the boat but needs money to open it for business. Joe and his employee Crunk head into town and Dorothy Bryant, a rich society girl tries to sell him two $50 tickets for a party to benefit her War Relief charity.

He doesn't buy the tickets but the cost gives him an idea. He plans to approach the charity and offer to run a casino gambling operation for them to raise money. However, he really intends to keep the money. Joe follows Dorothy around and then heads for the War Relief office. The poster behind the woman reads "Bundles for Freedom", apparently taken from the real "Bundles for Britain" relief organization.

The group is a women's group but need a man around to do heavy lifting so they take him. He is also invited to learn knitting.

A man comes in to sell the group some blankets but he wants more money than the group can afford. Joe approaches the man and makes a wager.

Joe offers to flip a coin with the man for a price reduction, and he has a little help as his coin is a trick coin which has "tails" on both sides.

The coin image is copied from the reverse of a Germany States Silver Five Mark coin. The real coin is 38 mm in diameter, the same size as a US silver dollar.

An example of a German States 5 Mark coin reverse:

Reverse: DEUTSCHES REICH 1903 / FÜNF MARK

Dorothy's charity is informed that a man who is supposed to ship the goods wants more money. She and Joe head to the docks to meet the man.

Joe fingers a roll of dimes, accompanies the man to his office and, behind closed doors, beats him up. The dimes roll under the door and down to Dorothy's shoes.

The dimes appear to be real Winged Liberty Head or "Mercury Head" dimes which were minted from 1916 to 1945. Dorothy later accompanies Joe to her apartment and while hanging up his coat, finds his two-tailed coin. She and Joe engage in a little romantic talk and he calls her "Briny Marlin."

She puts it away and playfully asks Joe for a wager and playfully implies what he will win. Joe shows both his closed hands, asks her which hand the coin is in, she replies "neither." He opens his hand and shows her the coin.

He tells her that he doesn't play games with friends. Dorothy sees her grandfather who doesn't like her fooling around with such a shady character, and threatens to have him "investigated."

Dorothy now trusts Joe and gives permission for him to run his casino at their charity party. She also gives him a check for $6,000 to pay a shipper and Joe, using a trick, keeps the check and cashes it himself at the bank where the grandfather works. He sends the police after Joe.

Dorothy manages to get Joe out of the office and he heads for the Fortuna. Zepp gives Joe a letter from Greece address to the real Joe Bascopolous. The letter is in Greek and Joe takes it to a Greek Orthodox church and asks the priest to read it for him.

The priest reads the letter, it is from the real Joe's mother, and it describes how the Nazis murdered all of the men in the village including Joe's brothers. Joe (Cary) realizes that the war is serious business and decides not to steal the funds from the war relief charity. He heads for the Fortuna and meets his associates.

Zepp has guessed that Joe intends to keep the money and not share it. The charity party is held at a mansion with the slot machines and roulette tables upstairs. The charity women bring the cash to an office room for counting.

The bills are standard Mexican Revolution motion picture stage or prop bills. For more information on these bills please visit: Mexican Revolution Currency Notes.

There is very little cash as Joe's associates have removed most of it. Joe confronts Zepp, who pulls a gun and shoots Joe. Joe manages to knock Zepp down and rather savagely beats him. His men take Joe to an underworld doctor to have the bullet removed. The women wonder why they only made a few hundred dollars from the event when the Fortuna's captain Hard Swede arrives.

The captains's bundle is the missing cash, over $100,000 of it. He tells Dorothy that Joe is taking the Fortuna to deliver the relief supplies. Dorothy now realizes that Joe has changed and that she loves him. She hurries down to the docks and sees the boat, now named the "Briny Marlin", leaving.

She has been going down to the docks every day looking for Joe, although she has heard that the boat was sunk by a submarine torpedo on it's way back to New York. The Swede and a dock policeman watch her and Joe shows up alive to meet the men. The policeman supplies a coin and the captain and Joe flip over who is to remove a dingy (small boat).

Joe loses the coin flip and head to the dock where he and Dorothy meet.

The policeman shows his coin which is also a special coin, this time a two-headed one.

The coin image is copied from the obverse of a Germany State of Bavaria silver Kronenthaler issued during the reign of King Maximilian I of Bavaria (1806-1825). The coin is about the size of a United States silver dollar (38 mm).

Cary Grant as Joe Adams / Joe Bascopolous
Laraine Day as Dorothy Bryant
Charles Bickford as Hard Swede
Paul Stewart as Zepp
Alan Carney as Crunk
Director: H.C. Potter
Writers: Milton Holmes, Adrian Scott, Milton Holmes